Blast-furnace



(No Model.) P L WEIMER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

BLAST FURNACE.

No. 320,605. Patented-June 23, 1885.

Nv PETERS. Phnto'Lilbo npher. Wnhin nm D C.

'(NO Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2:

P. L. WEIMER.

BLAST FURNACE.

N0. 320,60 Patented June 23, 1885.

WIT/V588 3 Sheets--Sh eet 3.

(No Model.)

B, L. WEIMER.

BLAST FURNACE.

Patented June 23, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE.

PETER L. VVEIMER, OF LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA.

BLAST-FU RNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,605, dated June 23, 1885.

Application filed April 13, 1895.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PETER L. WEIMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lebanon, in the county of Lebanon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Blast-Furnaces, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawlugs.

In the working of blast-furnaces it has been discovered that frequent changes in the temperature of the interior of the furnace occur. At times and for days in succession the temperature will run exceedingly high, while on other days it will be comparatively low. During periods when the furnace is working under high temperature the destructive action of the heat upon the lining is very active, and if not modified by some process of cooling or refrigeration, produced by the application of a cooling medium to the external surface of the walls, the crucible and boshes will soon be destroyed. On the contrary, when the furnace is working under low temperatures the cooling of the walls should be correspondingly reduced, to prevent an undue reduction of the tempera ture of the furnace.

Heretofore it has been the practice to apply cold water to the exterior of the furnace-walls, as shown in Letters Patent granted to me October 23, 1883, No. 287,204, and in which provision is made to regulate the quantity of water passed through the cooling-vessels to meet the requirements due to the changes of temperature under which the furnace is working. This practiceis attended with great expense in the construction of the devices used, and also requires a great quantity of water to keep up the cooling effect, at no small cost where the water is required to be raised by means of pumps. Furthermore,in the practice referred to the exercise of a keen sense of judgment is necessary on the part of the operators to regulate the supply of water to meet the requirements of the furnace during the changes of temperature to which it is subjected.

My invention has for its object the construc tion of a cooling or refrigerating apparatus for blast-furnaces which shall overcome the present difficulties and disadvantages attending such devices, greatly reducing the cost there- (Nomodcl.)

of, and operate automatically in supplying a cooling medium in varying quantities, regulated by the changes in the temperature of the furnace.

Another object of my invention is to provide an efficient binding for the walls of the crucible and bosh, and at the same time leave a large proportion of the surface of the wall exposed to the action of the cooling medium,

which will also act upon the greatest part of the surface of the binders.

My invention consists in an automatic cooling or refrigerating mechanism for the crucible and bosh of a blast'furnace, and, in connection therewith, the peculiar construction of the means for binding the walls.

Having thus briefly pointed out the object of my invention, I will proceed to describe it so that others skilled in the art to which it pertains may be enabled to make anduse the same.

Reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a blast-furnace embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan on foundation-line. Fig. 4 is a plan on line A B, where the draft-chimneys connect with the air-chamber. Fi 5 is a detail showing the manner in which I beams are bound together and the airjacket attached to the beams. Fig. 6 shows a section of the casing or jacket-sheet provided with slots for attachment to the I-beams.

The brick-work ofthe crucible and bosh of a blast-furnace is surrounded with a series of I-beams, A, which are coupled together by rods B,passing through the web of the beams. The beams extend from the foundation up to the mantle of the furnace, thus securely binding the wall of the bosh and the greater portion of the crucible.

To the outer flanges of each alternate I- beam is secured one end of a section of sheetiron,by means of bolts 0 and bars Oflthrough which and slots 0 in the sheet metal are passed said bolts G. The sheets 0 arearranged above each other in sections, leaving an annular opening between said sheets forming passages for the admission of air to the air-chambers surrounding the walls of the fur- ICO nace, through which air is admitted, as indicated by the arrows at D. The air-chambers are formed by the outer walls of the stack, the sides of the ll-beams,and the casing secured to the outer flanges of each alternate beam. To allow for expansion of the walls of the crucible and bosh the nuts on the rods B are slackened before the casing O is placed around the binders, and to provide for the expansion of the casing each section is curved, as shown at C, Fig. 5.

The upper end of each air-chamber communicates with a chimney, E, which extends to the top of the furnace and conveys the heated air from around the crucible and bosh, the natural draft of the chimney being sufficiently strong to inducea flow of air through the airchambers. The supply of air to the chambers is regulated automatically by the degrees of temperature contained in the walls of said crucible and bosh.

Vhen the furnace is working under high temperatures, the heat conveyed through the walls of the crucible and bosh will act upon the air contained in the chambers surrounding said walls, rarefying it rapidly, and cause a corresponding ingress of currents of cool air to supply the place of the heated air passing up through the chambers into the chimney or chimneys, and maintain an even temperature of the walls approximating to the temperature of the passing air.

Should the interior temperature of the furnace fall the amount of heat transmitted th rough the walls is correspondingly reduced. The air in the chamber being less actively operated upon, the quantity of infiowing air will be diminished and the walls maintained at nearly the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere.

Instead of providing each chamber with a separate chimney extending to the top of the furnace-stack,a flue may be formed in the casing surrounding the upper part of the stack supported by the mantle, or several chambers made to dischargeinto one stack or chimney; or an annular flue may be used,into

wrhich all the air-chambers may discharge.

I am aware of a furnace having the outer surface of the wall of its stack incased in metal surrounded by a chamber to which air is admitted at the bottom and conducted into the stack at the top, and of a double-walled furnace having a casing forming an air-chamber to which air is admitted at the bottom only. Such constructions I do not, therefore, claim.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. The combination, with the crucible and bosh of a blast-furnace, of a cooler or refrigerator operating automatically to admit air in varying quantities at different points in the height of the structure upon the outer surface of the masonry forming the wall of said crucible and bosh, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the crucible and bosh of a furnace, and a binding consisting of beams of metal separated and connected, as shown, of an air-chamber formed by the wall of the stack and an outer casing, to which air is admitted automatically and in varying quantities, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the crucible and bosh, of a series of air-chambers formed by the vertical beams, connected as shown, the outer surface of the masonry, and the casing, substantially as described. A

4.. In ablast-furnace, the combination, with the binders for the crucible and bosh, consisting of beams of metal separated and connected as shown, of a casing having annular air-inlets, substantially as described.

5. In a blast-furnace, the combination of the stack and an inclosing jacket or easing composed of separate horizontal sections having annular air-inlets formed between them, substantially as described.

6. A blast-furnace stack, in combination with an inclosing jacket or easing provided with airinlets arranged in different horizontal planes below the mantle, and an outlet or outlets communicating with the annulus formed by the wall of the stack and the easing, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a blast-furnace stack and a surrounding casing or jacket provided with air-inlets arranged in different horizontal planes, and outlets open to the atmosphere, adapted to apply air directly to the outer surface of the masonry forming the walls of the crucible and bosh automatically in quantities varying as the temperature of the furnace rises and falls, substantially as described.

8. A furnace-stack composed of a single wall of masonry surrounded by a metallic casing open to the atmosphere at both ends and provided with a series of intermediate air-inlets, the supply of airbeing controlled automatically by varying degrees of heat in the crucible and bosh and operating to change the temperature of the ascending column of air, substantially as described.

9. A furnace-stack, in combination with a casing provided with a series of annular airinlets arranged in different horizontal planes, the supply of air being controlled automatically by varying degrees of heat in the furnace and the ascending column of heated air supplied with cold air at different points in the height of the stack.

10. The combination of the furnace-stack, the air-chambers, and the casing formed in sections, curved, substantially as shown, to provide for expansion of the casing.

11. The combination of the stack, the I beams, the horizontal coupling-rods, the casing, and suitable means for connecting the casing to the flanges of the beams, substantially as described.

PETER L. WEIMER.

WVitn esses:

TOBIAS REINOEHL, WM. T. ATKINS. 

